Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Trustees Delay Audit of Castaic School District : Education: The review, spurred by superintendent’s use of a credit card, is put on hold for three months.

An independent audit of the Castaic Union School District called for by trustees five months ago has been shelved for an additional three months.

The issue was postponed until March to allow newly elected board members to become familiar with district spending and to wait for results of a financial review conducted annually by the district’s regular accounting firm.

New trustee Dirk Gosda requested the delay Wednesday.

“Part of it was personal,” Gosda said. “I’m a new board member and haven’t had the time to go through two months worth of (purchase) warrants.”

Gosda said the delay also will allow Michael Slater, who was named by trustees Wednesday as the district’s new business manager, to become familiar with district procedures.

“We are a small district,” said Gosda. “The audit’s not going to look at 100 officials; it’s going to be a few people. The business manager is one of them.”

Trustees in November approved guidelines for the independent audit, but didn’t authorize the financial examination itself because they don’t know how much it would cost. That since has since been estimated at about $2,000.

“I hate to spend the money,” Gosda said. “It’s not that we’re trying to avoid anything.”

The review will include checking district income and spending patterns for the last four years, evaluating the business and personnel departments and examining enrollment projections for the next three to five years. It will be the first management audit of the district in more than 10 years.

Gloria Mercado, a former trustee who has been a vocal critic of Supt. Scott Brown and a supporter of an independent audit even before it was called for in July, said she is not surprised by the delay.

“They’ve been fighting me on that for a year now,” Mercado said.

The board called for the review by the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Management Assistance Team following Brown’s use of a district credit card for personal items. The amount charged was later repaid.

Brown’s critics questioned $1,259 in charges by the superintendent for travel expenses, hotel stays, car rentals and gifts.

Trustees this week cut up that credit card. School officials must now pay for expenses themselves and then request reimbursement from the district.

In other matters, the board voted 3-to-1 to cancel the $240-a-month stipend each trustee receives, saving the district $14,400 per year.

Trustee Lester Freeman cast the opposing vote. Trustee Bruce Fox abstained.